Projectile $\Delta$ Excitations in $p(p,n)N\pi$ Reactions

Abstract

It has recently been proven from measurements of the spin-transfer coefficients $D_{xx}$ and $D_{zz}$ that there is a small but non-vanishing $\Delta S=0$ component ${\sigma }_0$, in the inclusive $p(p,n)N\pi$ reaction cross section $\sigma$. It is shown that the dominant part of the measured ${\sigma }_0$ can be explained in terms of the projectile $\Delta$ excitation mechanism. An estimate is further made of contributions to ${\sigma }_0$ from s-wave rescattering process. It is found that s-wave rescattering contribution is much smaller than the contribution coming from projectile $\Delta$ excitation mechanism. The addition of s-wave rescattering contribution to the dominant part, however, improves the fit to the data.

Comments: 9 pages, Revtex, figures can be obtained upon request